The 2020 U.S. election and its aftermath have been some of the most closely followed stories in the world. All eyes are on an America torn by unprecedented levels of partisan division, an onslaught of mis- and disinformation, and a president asserting victory without evidence.
How has the media covered this story? And what does it say about covering politics in a world increasingly at odds over facts?
We are joined by:
- Ros Atkins, Presenter & Host, BBC News
- Pramit Chaudhuri, Foreign Editor, Hindustan Times
- Patrick Gathara, Global Affairs Journalist & Curator, The Elephant; Award-winning Cartoonist
- Dafna Linzer, Managing Editor for Politics, NBC News & MSNBC
- Vivian Schiller, Executive Director, Aspen DigitalProgram co-hosted by Aspen Digital, Africa Leadership Initiative, African Digital Media Institute, and Ananta Aspen Centre.
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Ros Atkins is a BBC News presenter who hosts the programme Outside Source which broadcasts at 1900 GMT, Monday-Thursday on BBC World News and BBC News Channel. Previously he hosted World Have Your Say on BBC World News and BBC World Service radio. Atkins began his career in South Africa where he researched crime prevention and human rights for the Centre for Policy Studies. He also wrote for the Sunday Independent in South Africa and worked as a DJ in Johannesburg and at the Oppikoppi festival. On returning to the UK, Atkins became editor of timeout.com. He also contributed to British Airways in-flight radio. Atkins has hosted coverage of many major stories around the world for BBC News, including both of Barack Obama’s election victories and his first inauguration, the swine flu outbreak in Mexico, the football World Cups in Germany and South Africa, the Charles Taylor verdict, the London Olympic Games and Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. He was also a lead presenter for the BBC World Service coverage of the death of Nelson Mandela that won a Radio Academy Gold Award in 2014
Pramit Pal Chaudhuri is the Foreign Editor at Hindustan Times and Distinguished Fellow & Head, Strategic Affairs, Ananta Aspen Centre. He writes on political, security, and economic issues. He previously wrote for the Statesman and the Telegraph in Calcutta. He served on the National Security Advisory Board of the Indian government from 2011-2015. Among other affiliations, he is a member of the Asia Society Global Council, the Aspen Institute Italia, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, and the Mont Pelerin Society. Pramit is also a senior associate of Rhodium Group, New York City, and advisor to the Bower Group Asia in India, a member of the Council on Emerging Markets, Washington, DC, and a delegate for the Confederation of Indian Industry-Aspen Strategy Group Indo-U.S. Strategic Dialogue and the Ananta Aspen Strategic Dialogues with Japan, China and Israel. Born in 1964, he has visited over fifty countries on five continents.
Patrick Gathara is a Kenyan journalist, author, blogger and cartoonist. A regularly published commentator on African and international affairs, his work has appeared in multiple publications, including The Washington Post, Al Jazeera and the East African Star. Gathara is currently a curator for the news and analysis site, The Elephant. An award-winning illustrator, he is the author of Gathara Will Draw for Food, a collection of cartoons focused on the East African political scene. A keen observer of the 2020 US presidential election, Gathara has produced witty and thought-provoking satire examining global media narratives around this topical issue.
Dafna Linzer is a Managing Editor for Politics in the NBC News and MSNBC, with a role spanning broadcast and digital coverage on both networks for the 2016 election campaign. Linzer was formerly managing editor of MSNBC; senior reporter at ProPublica; foreign correspondent for the Associated Press; and national security reporter for the Washington Post. In her time at the Washington Post, she covered intelligence and non-proliferation, and reported on the futile search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. At ProPublica, Linzer wrote the “Shades of Mercy”, a series on racial bias in presidential pardons. The series was a finalist for the Harvard Shorenstein Center’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. Linzer also conducted work on the Guantanamo Bay detention camp under the Obama presidency, which won a 2010 Overseas Press Club Award and an honorable mention for the Silver Gavel Awards of the American Bar Association.
Vivian Schiller is the Executive Director of Aspen Digital. A longtime executive at the intersection of journalism, media and technology, Schiller has held executive roles at some of the most respected media organizations in the world. Those include: President and CEO of NPR; Global Chair of News at Twitter; General Manager of NYTimes.com; Chief Digital Officer of NBC News; Chief of the Discovery Times Channel, a joint venture of The New York Times and Discovery Communications; and Head of CNN documentary and long form divisions. Documentaries and series produced under her auspices earned multiple honors, including three Peabody Awards, four Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Awards, and dozens of Emmys. Schiller is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; and a Director of the Scott Trust, which owns The Guardian.
